This wouldn't happen if media outlets relayed stories from only people with journalistic ethics. Back in the day, there was news in the news section, op-ed in the op-ed section and a clear distinction was made. Now anyone with a twitter account considers him or herself worthy of the front page.

FTFA: "A presentation by McLeanClark, discovered on Prezi by Whispers, implies that former Obama adviser Joe McLean's PR firm sees the American media as easy to manipulate. In McLeanClark's world, the media appears to be a place where op-eds written with help from the firm-though not necessarily with their byline-will simply be accepted and printed."

And they're absolutely right.

It's amusing, how American media still think they're news organizations. They morphed into PR flacks long ago. The honest ones admit it. The dishonest ones write faux-outrage bullshiat like the linked story.

Vlad_the_Inaner:"In McLeanClark's world, the media appears to be a place where op-eds written with help from [a PR company] -though not necessarily with their byline-will simply be accepted and printed."

So this McLeanClark fellow hails from planet Earth, huh.

No kidding. I would expect that media outlets are quite willing to accept relatively well-written, topical pieces to fill up space at low cost, especially when they come from people with friends and connections... I've seen it happen. I've also seen the standard responses from newspaper editors about the successful publishing rate for unsolicited op-ed pieces. We're talking about businesses here, afterall...

You think the media don't know how this works. They're not being "manipulated", they are in on it. The kind of person who's shocked by this revelation, probably believes that professional wrestling is real.

Bad_Seed:You think the media don't know how this works. They're not being "manipulated", they are in on it. The kind of person who's shocked by this revelation, probably believes that professional wrestling is real.

What you talkin' about, B_S?? If wrestling isn't real why is it in the Sports tab? Q.E.D!

Ad hominem attacks, the first and last strategy of the Left.Pardon me, but your tilt is showing.

He should have just said that you failed at reading comprehension.

The article isn't about Obama. It isn't even about Obama's current (or former) campaigns.

The article is about a guy who used to work for Obama, who now has his own PR firm. That PR firm has done article and op-ed placement for various clients (such as Boeing), and is trying to sell that expertise to Greece.

The only reason "former Obama advisor" is on there is to make the story more sensationalist. If his biggest name client had instead been Lindsay Lohan, it would say that.

Ad hominem attacks, the first and last strategy of the Left.Pardon me, but your tilt is showing.

I don't think you're allowed to play the ad hominem card here. His argument was not 'you're an idiot'. That was merely an observation following his argument: the article was not about Obama. The fact he called you an idiot does not change the fact that your argument was false.

Ad hominem attacks, the first and last strategy of the Left.Pardon me, but your tilt is showing.

I don't think you're allowed to play the ad hominem card here. His argument was not 'you're an idiot'. That was merely an observation following his argument: the article was not about Obama. The fact he called you an idiot does not change the fact that your argument was false.

Ad hominem attacks, the first and last strategy of the Left.Pardon me, but your tilt is showing.

I don't think you're allowed to play the ad hominem card here. His argument was not 'you're an idiot'. That was merely an observation following his argument: the article was not about Obama. The fact he called you an idiot does not change the fact that your argument was false.

No kidding. What an idiot.

Hey guys. I heard there's an idiot in here and I wanted to check it out. Has he said something with "ad hominem" in it yet?

This is news how??? The media is too lazy to create their own stories or even fact check the ones handed to them, and now they want to blame the people that handed them the stories. All political parties do this, the media considers it free air time. There is nothing new about this.